For 30 years, a team of international scientists deployed electronic tags on Atlantic bluefin tuna to track their movements across the ocean. A new study analyzing the results found that, while the western stock tends to stay on the western side of the Atlantic, many individuals from the eastern stock migrate west to feed and grow before returning east to spawn. 

Dolphins and porpoises are both cetaceans, but they have distinct characteristics that set them apart. Learn how to tell them apart.

By June 1, submit your nominations for the 2026 Dr. Nancy Foster Habitat Conservation Award. NOAA established the award in 1997 to recognize and honor individuals for their valuable work in conserving marine, coastal, and riverine environments.   

On April 1 and 2, the Northeast Fisheries Science Center held its fourth annual Northeast Cooperative Research Summit on Long Island. The Summit is an annual event focused on building partnerships between the fishing and science communities to address science and management needs.

Field scientist Hannah Ciarametaro sails on commercial groundfish vessels all over the Northeast region. Working with fishermen, she collects data that represent the landings of the commercial groundfish fleet from different ports, gear types, and gutting methods. This data will inform the “conversion factors” scientists use to convert gutted weight of groundfish species to whole weight for population models.

NOAA researchers are headed to American Samoa and the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument for coral reef surveys this year, and you’re invited behind the scenes! Follow their mission through an interactive StoryMap. Regular surveys of these reefs enable us to track reef health and impacts over time.

March–August is the peak pupping season for Hawaiian monk seals. Learn what to look out for along the shorelines and simple steps you can take to give moms and pups a healthy start together.

The 2026 North Atlantic right whale calving season has come to a close in the southeast United States. Scientists are cautiously optimistic for the species, as they saw the highest number of right whale calves born in nearly two decades. 

NOAA Fisheries has certified Alabama’s and Mississippi’s creel surveys as part of a move to advance federal-state partnerships for recreational fisheries management strategies. These surveys aim to produce more timely and precise estimates of state-specific recreational fishing catch and trip activity.

Investments in the restoration of Florida’s Robinson Preserve, near the southern end of Tampa Bay, are paying off. Fisheries monitoring and a recent economic study found that the 700-acre coastal preserve—once degraded farmland—now supports a healthy sportfish population, attracts about 240,000 visitors each year, and generates millions of dollars in economic activity.

Traveling 900 miles from the Pacific Ocean to the mountains of Idaho, Snake River Chinook and steelhead undertake the longest and highest migration in the lower 48 states. Multiple NOAA-funded habitat restoration projects, undertaken in collaboration with local landowners, aim to open up additional fish spawning habitat in the Snake River basin.